The New Macbook Reviews are In - and Positive?

[ilikemacandpc]

The New Macbook - Image from Ars Technica

 

The Verge

This new MacBook is the future. All laptops are going to be like this someday: with ridiculously good screens, no fans, lasting all day. Just like the original MacBook Air defined a generation of competitors, this new MacBook will do the same. It, or something inspired by it, is what you'll be using in two or three years. It's that good.

 

Ars Technica

Ultimately the new MacBook feels like a first-generation product—a very good first-generation product, but a first-generation product nevertheless. It's got some promise and a couple of major shortcomings and you don't need to be the first person who takes the leap into the Brave New Future it represents. I use an iMac as my primary computer and a 13-inch MacBook Air when I’m sitting on the couch or in a café or on a plane, and perhaps 90 percent of the time this MacBook can replace the Air without issue. If this is going to be your main computer or only computer or if you’re one of the bare handful of people who use Thunderbolt for something, it’s hard to recommend.

 

Interesting...

It does seem to have a decent keyboard, an excellent display, and performance somewhere around the 2011-2012 Macbook Airs. That's the good news. The bad news is the single port is just annoying to live with. 

 

However, is it just me, or do these reviews sound like the ones for the Apple Watch? A great first generation product, but is a bit slow and expensive. 

The Macbook is going to be the one to change notebook for the next decade. It's lack of ports will be resolved, just like it was resolved on the Macbook Air, and the relatively slow performance will improve, as it did with the Macbook Air. Just like the Apple Watch, it's going to push the industry forward, despite its current compromises. Laptops as a whole will be better off because of the new Macbook. 

 

Other Reviews:

• Wired
• WSJ
• Engadget

 

Opinions?

[Victorious Secret]

Who'd a thunk it, other people don't just knee jerk hate on Apple products! 

 

The Macbook of now is the Macbook Air of back then. It made little sense for normal people. Now look at the air, the cheapest point of entry to the Apple ecosystem and a pretty good entry to boot, a laptop that basically kicked every other PC maker in the ass on how to make a good, small laptop. 

 

Its Apple first gen, every gen. Don't buy into it unless you really know what you want and are getting into. Otherwise wait for the vastly improved 2nd gen, when shits been ironed out and things make a little more sense. 

 

Oh well, can't expect rationality. I'm just here for all the "DAE APPLE IS SHITEEE" comments that generally follow such threads. 

[Sidiox]

Hmmm. It seems like an okay product, but the 1 port would just always kill it for me. And I also think my SP3 is just better in nearly all aspects. 

[C0LL0SS0S]

I mean for a portable device it is ballin, ofc that USB C is not that nice but its really a good iPad upgrade

[Guest]

Of course they're positive.

Reviewers that give Apple bad reviews don't get review units.

[Mao_Zedong]

I don't hate it, but I couldn't use it. I always need at least two usb ports because I use a logitech g602 at all times, and I need another spare port. If they just had another usb-c and 1-2 full USB then I would be totally fine with this. Right now I have a lenovo yoga 11s (haswell) and I wouldn't really want to go much smaller because of the sacrifices. 

[gilm0re3]

The only thing that I think really kills the Macbook for people is the single port and the pricetag. 1300 bucks for what could be more or less called a netbook is not exactly what I would call a good deal.

[Merlorz]

GOD DAMN IT, its not apple that makes things like this possible. Think about the more important once like Intel..

[The Great Sayain Man]

Well apple could sell iShit and it would be 'the future'. 

[The Benjamins]

 

 

Interesting...

It does seem to have a decent keyboard, an excellent display, and performance somewhere around the 2011-2012 Macbook Airs. That's the good news. The bad news is the single port is just annoying to live with. 

 

 

 

 

So the 2014 Macbook is faster than the 2015 macbook

[MonkeyFace]

When you look at their entire Macbook lineup, the price and the performance just doesn't make sense. Priced the same as Macbook Pro (2015), and Macbook Air is slightly cheaper with better CPU. 

 

If Steve Jobs was alive, he would bring Tim Cook to tears in a meeting then fire him. 

[Bensemus]

This is pretty much what I thought when I saw it. To me the price is a bit steep but everything else about it is good. I get that some people will need more than 1 usb port and other companies will make and already make laptops that offer that. For me one port is plenty. I have an ASUS laptop with 4 usb ports, ethernet, HDMI, headphone and mike jack, SD card reader, and a VGA port. Even with its worse keyboard and ~4h battery life, I still usually only use 1 port and that is to plug in the cooling fan I sit it on as it overheats at medium tasks (GT 550m and i7 overwhelm its single fan pretty quick). If I wasn't a broke college student and I needed to replace my laptop I would most likely go for the macbook.

[Misanthrope]

You know, I think that the future revision might end up being like completely port-less: It will have just wireless charging and a dock (sold separately of course) that doubles for ports and wireless charging too if/when needed.

[dragosudeki]

I definitely don't like this particular laptop, since there is only one port. Well, the usb problem could be solve with a hub, but couldn't they just add a DP at least for a display? I know a lot of people who have a laptop, but also have a monitor for when they are at home. Even for projects, you usually want to hook it up to a projector. I really think the price is ridiculous considering this aspect. I think devices need at least a USB port and some sort of display port. They should have made this much cheaper.

[CaptainGazzz]

Looks nice, I find it very similar to the surface pro, only without the detachable keyboard.

[jrfox87]

It's definitely not the laptop for me as its not powerful enough and I need ports. That does not mean I think its a bad product though, I think its a very nice product that would suit many people quite well, its just not for me. Future revisions will only make it better and cheaper until it replaces the MacBook Air completely and Apple then kills the Air line.

[Mew]

GOD DAMN IT, its not apple that makes things like this possible. Think about the more important once like Intel..

Intel graphics wouldn't be where they are if Apple didn't demand Intel to improve them (iris and iris pro). I'm pretty sure Apple's obsession with making thinner devices also played a part in Intel making cpu that have low enough tdp to be used in the air and MacBook.

 

Edit: This is probably one of the more notable things-

 

Another interesting thing to note, though we didn't include it on these charts: the MacBook’s multi-core CPU performance is nearly identical to that of the iPad Air 2. The A8X still has lower single-threaded performance—it needs a third core to match the dual-core Core M—but we’ve gotten to the point where top-end ARM chips and low-power Intel chips have very similar power usage and performance characteristics.

 

At similar power consumption, Core M is just as fast as any other flagship tablet in basic tasks. I can't imagine how much this will change less than 6 months from now with the new iPad and next year when, inevitably, the next generation of Core M comes out. 

[Warcony]

Of course they're positive.

Reviewers that give Apple bad reviews don't get review units.

This x 100

[GodSpoon]

[LAwLz]

How the hell is "2011 Macbook Air performance" a good thing?

The 2011 Macbook Air had low performance when it was released, and that was 4 years ago. So it's as fast as a 4 year old low-performance computer.

 

 

The reviewers are what I expected. It's a very very expensive facebook machine. The lack of performance and ports will limit your usage to simple things like web browsing, but if you only want to do that then I'd say you're much better off with a cheaper computer (since it can do the same things).

[zappian]

Who'd a thunk it, other people don't just knee jerk hate on Apple products! 

 

The Macbook of now is the Macbook Air of back then. It made little sense for normal people. Now look at the air, the cheapest point of entry to the Apple ecosystem and a pretty good entry to boot, a laptop that basically kicked every other PC maker in the ass on how to make a good, small laptop. 

 

Its Apple first gen, every gen. Don't buy into it unless you really know what you want and are getting into. Otherwise wait for the vastly improved 2nd gen, when shits been ironed out and things make a little more sense. 

 

Oh well, can't expect rationality. I'm just here for all the "DAE APPLE IS SHITEEE" comments that generally follow such threads. 

 

It almost seems like you want those comments so you can jump on people no offense.

[Norman_the_Owl]

The problem is apple has always tried to sell itself to professionals, and now they're trying to sell something that can't be sold to professionals...it's a fine product, nothing wrong with it, but a very niche one

[Nowak]

"This new MacBook is the future."

I dunno about that, iVerge, I think computers will continue to have more than one fucking USB port even into the future.

[werto165]

DAE APPLE IS SHITEEE

[Mew]

"This new MacBook is the future."

I dunno about that, iVerge, I think computers will continue to have more than one fucking USB port even into the future.

 

Smartphones are referred to as computers at times and they only have one USB port.